About

Mike Cola @ 49 Years old

Welcome to Fitness Contrarian. My name is Mike Cola and I have been a personal trainer and gym owner for over 25 years. I have always had a real love for fitness and have devoted my life to studying about it and living a healthy lifestyle.

Unfortunately what is considered popular in the fitness industry today is not necessarily healthy for you. That is why I named this blog Fitness Contrarian. I have always been a contrarian by nature and have found that the process of getting into amazing shape is so misunderstood. What I have realized over the last 25 years is that whatever is popular or trendy at the time is most likely wrong. In many cases you would be better off doing the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing to stay lean and healthy.

I came to this realization about 12 years ago when I went to the doctor for my annual physical and was blown away when he called me with my blood work results. He told me that my Creatin Kinase (CK) levels in my blood were through the roof. CK is used as a marker in blood work to determine if someone had a heart attack or extreme muscle breakdown. He told me to take a week off from working out and come back for another blood test. I did and my levels went back to normal. That moment was a real wakeup call for me and really got me thinking.

Twelve years ago I was 36 years old and thought I was in great shape. I was running 5 miles, three days per week and lifting weights for about two hours, four days per week. Weighing 165lbs, I was benching 275lbs, squatting 315lbs for reps and looking pretty muscular. What I did not realize is that I had been over training for years. I was controlling my weight with exercise like everyone else. I only felt like I had a good workout if I was sore the next day. I lived and died by the no-pain-no-gain philosophy.

Now that I’m 49 years old I respect hard workouts but keep them to a minimum. I control my weight with the proper diet and feel stronger and healthier then ever. I don’t follow what everyone else is doing and design my workouts and diet from proper research and my own 25 years of experience.

Fitness Contrarian is all about mastering the ageless workout and diet. The goal of this blog is to teach you how to build muscle in your 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s while staying lean and not over training.

If you are new to this blog you should start out reading my Fitness Principals and take a look at my present workout and diet routine. I’m a few pounds lighter then when I was in my 30’s; my goal is not to lift as much weight as possible but to be healthier and not chronically over train.